then?’ he asked, his eyes narrowing as he studied it.
‘None of your business.’ Her gaze flicked back to the pushchair, where the baby had started to whimper.
‘Nice frame,’ her dad said.
Oh no. It was silver. Worth a fiver down the pub. ‘You can have it,’ she said, thinking fast and taking a gamble. It might work, depending on how magnanimous he was feeling. ‘I only want the photo. It’s my friend’s brother. He died suddenly. She wants me to do a pencil drawing of it for her.’
Her dad’s greedy gaze stayed on the frame as he considered. He knew she loved to draw, that she was good at it. She’d been desperate to do an art degree, but he’d demanded she get a job and contribute to the household.
‘She’s paying me fifty quid,’ she added, a little incentive. That clinched it. She saw the pound signs ping in his eyes.
‘Make sure to give your mother something towards the bills,’ he said, and immediately set about detaching the back from the frame.
What he really meant was ‘Make sure to give your mum some money I can than pilfer from her purse to piss up the wall.’ God, he was obnoxious. Her stomach roiling at the proximity of him, Kim said nothing, holding her temper as she waited for him to return the photograph. He would take great pleasure in ripping it up in front of her if she challenged him.
She glanced away as he handed it to her, rather than see the triumphant look on his face, then tucked it back into her jacket and left him to revel in his pathetic little victory while she went to the pushchair to unbuckle Samuel and lift him carefully out.
‘Sorry, sweetheart,’ her mum said as, the baby in her arms, Kim headed for the stairs.
Kim nodded. She didn’t say anything. She wished her mum would bloody well leave him. Even a refuge had to be better than this.
Once upstairs, she elbowed the door of her shoebox of a room open and went inside in hope of some privacy. She needed to think what to do now that Josh’s parents had as good as called her a liar. Well, Adam Colby certainly had. Cassandra had tried to defend her, probably because she’d seen the baby as a way of holding onto her son. Perhaps she should try to catch her on her own and talk to her again. Pop a letter through her door maybe and ask to meet up with her.
Placing the baby on the bed, she swallowed her hurt and beamed him a smile. Cooing and soothing him, she set about changing him. ‘You’re a gorgeous little boy, aren’t you, sweetheart? As good as gold.’
Making sure he was dry and comfortable, she lifted him gently into the cot that was squeezed into the corner. ‘We’ll be out of here soon, darling. Don’t you worry, I’ll make sure to look after you and keep you safe,’ she promised him, tickling his tummy. He offered her a delighted gummy smile, and she sighed, in awe of the perfect wonder of him. He would be hungry soon. She would have to venture back downstairs, she supposed. Her own tummy clenched coldly at the thought of having to encounter her father again, but Samuel was her priority.
Sighing, she pulled Josh’s photo from her jacket and studied it. He’d been so good-looking, his eyes the truest sky blue, his lips just full enough to be sensual. She’d fantasised about those eyes holding hers as he made love to her even before she’d spoken to him. She’d fancied him the second she’d seen him on the Worcester to Birmingham train, and had made sure to be on the same one the next morning, in the hope of seeing him again. And then every morning thereafter, though it had cost her all the money from the waitressing job she’d now given up out of necessity. She’d felt a thousand butterflies take off in her tummy the first time he’d smiled at her. She’d loved him completely. Always would. Wiping away the slow tear that slid down her cheek, she swallowed hard.
She would send the letter. Speak to Cassandra, convince her she wasn’t the person they’d assumed she was simply because of where she came from. She’d made a promise to Josh at his grave, and she aimed to keep it. She wouldn’t let him down as everyone else in his life had.
Five
Joshua
December 2018
‘Hey, careful.’ Josh instinctively grabbed hold of